Monthly Archives: Sep 2014

A former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday said he would contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He said he decided to run because the Peoples Democratic Party-led federal administrations from 1999 till date were purposeless and that there appears not to be a government in place in Nigeria at present.
Mr. Buhari, who disclosed this in Abuja while addressing about 60 different groups urging him to run for the presidency said he would make his declaration formal on October 8.
The APC leader criticised the PDP-led administration since 1999, saying they lacked purpose. He said in the circumstance, it is important for him to step in to seek an opportunity to salvage the situation.
According to him, “Today, we are in the 15th year of purposeless leadership by the PDP and all we have seen is unprecedented deterioration in the security and law and order situation, astronomical rise in the incidence and intensity of corruption, and in the failure of governance.
“And as we reach this last lap of the journey, I would like to request that we concentrate all our effort and energy toward realising and achieving change in how this country is run.
“The only way to meaningful change in this country is to vote the PDP out of power to which it was never legitimately elected, anyway. The task before us today is wide ranging and very great. The first and most important is to take away power from those who have been misusing it.
“Indeed, except for the call of patriotism, public-spiritedness and an abiding love for the people off this country, nothing will today make honest, honourable and sane politician want to be saddled with Nigeria and an economy in trouble and a society in even deeper trouble – with its perilous security situation, with its extensive and almost unmanageable corruption and with its pervasive lawlessness. And a government – is there really a government? – that is not working.”
A former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, had last week declared his intention to contest the presidential election on the same APC platform, Nigeria’s main opposition party.
Mr. Buhari, a retired major general, who will be 72 in December, was Nigeria’s military head of state between 1983 and 1985.
He had contested presidential election on three previous occasions, but lost to the PDP candidates.
The former military leader, who joined politics in 2003, contested that year’s election on the ticket of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, but came second to the incumbent, Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 2007, he ran again on the platform of the same party, but lost to PDP’s Umaru Yar’Adua.
Mr. Buhari quit the ANPP to float the Congress for Progressives Change, CPC, became its standard bearer in the 2011 presidential poll, but was defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan.
PREMIUM TIMES had exclusively reported on Monday that the APC leader had commissioned a study on how he could beat Mr. Jonathan, who may be the PDP candidate, in the coming presidential contest.
“With your support, I intend to offer myself for the position of the president of the republic on the platform of our great party,” Mr. Buhari told his supporters under the aegis of Buhari Support Groups, BSG.
“I intend to make a formal announcement soon (October 8), and I hope I can count on your continuing support and sacrifice.”
The APC leader, however, urged the groups not to limit their support to him alone, saying, “I will like to point out to you that, to be more meaningful, your support must extend beyond my person and always be available to the party and all those the party puts forward; because it is the party that is the platform.”
According to him, the APC is a party with several qualified people for each and all the positions that would be contested, including that of the president.
He said it is the primaries that will determine who eventually represent the party in which capacity, adding “If I get the party nomination, I expect you will redouble your effort and commitment until we clinch the presidency. But in the event that it happens to be one of the other aspirants who wins, I will expect you as good party men to extend to him your total support. We are a united party, and united we shall remain, because our strength lies in our unity.”
Mr. Buhari said he was proud and thankful of his supporters adding that although “we may be the most under-funded project in the history of this country, but by the grace of God and your support, we are the greatest crowd puller in the nation today; and the credit for all this goes to you for being there on the scene of the struggle.”
He however warned all his supporters, volunteers and other well-wishers within the APC and outside the party not to insult or be rude to any other aspirant or party leader on his behalf.
He asked them not to engage in any kind of behaviour or conduct that would tarnish the image of any leader or promote division and rancour within the ranks of the party.
“Whoever does that should know he or she is working for the enemy. At the same time, I would like to appeal and urge you to be good ambassador of the opposition.
“As a body, the opposition is committed to the rule of law; and as members of the parties in the opposition, you must learn to do the same at all times. In particular, you must learnt o be vigilant especially just before, during and immediately after elections, whether these are rigged or not, so that sponsored hoodlums do not commit illegalities that are in the end blamed on you.
“Not only must you not take laws into your hands, no matter the level of provocation, you must be able to expose those planning to do so before they act.”
Source: Premium Times

By KASHMIRA GANDER
Tuesday 30 September 2014
Olive oil could help reverse a patient’s heart failure “immediately”, scientists have claimed.
Oleate – the fat found in the golden liquid – could help a diseased heart pump blood more effectively and use body fat as fuel, researchers at the University of Illinois have found.
The most common reason a person may suffer from heart failure is when the muscle becomes damaged, including after a heart attack, through drug or alcohol abuse, and high blood pressure.
Shortness of breath, both during activity or rest; swelling of the feet, ankles, stomach and lower back; and fatigue are all symptoms of heart failure.
Currently, there is no way to reverse heart disease, and a combination of medication and lifestyle changes help patients manage their symptoms and keep their condition stable.
Scientists made their findings based on previous studies which show that a healthy heart absorbs fat to keep pumping, but if damaged the muscle can no longer process or store far – starving it of energy.
This means the heart is unable to work hard enough, and toxic fat deposits are left to clog up arteries.
Scientists believe that oleate helps the body produce enzymes which break down fat so the heart is once again able to absorb it.
Animal fats, found in butter, were found to make heart disease worse (Getty)

“These genes are often suppressed in failing hearts,” Douglas Lewandowski of the University of Illinois in Chicago told the Telegraph.
“So the fact that we can restore beneficial gene expression, as well as more balanced fat metabolism, plus reduce toxic fat, just by supplying hearts with oleate is a very exciting finding.
“This gives more proof to the idea that consuming healthy fats can have a significantly positive effect on cardiac health.”
To make their findings published in the journal ‘Circulation’, researchers analysed how rats hearts responded to oleate or aplmitate, the fat found in animal fats and dairy products.
When oleate was pumped through a failing heart, scientists saw an “immediate” improvement in how the heart contracted and pumped blood, Dr Lewandowski explained.
But, when animal fats were pumped through the heart, the heart disease worsened and more toxic fat was produced.
The study is backed by previous research which shows a diet high in olive oil can have the same affect as statins in reducing the risk of a heart attack.

A former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says there is a need for the country to undergo a “common sense” revolution.

Tinubu, who is a national leader of the All Progressives Congress said the many years of misrule by successive Peoples Democratic Party presidents had continued to sink the country further into crisis.

The former governor said this in a statement titled ‘A Return to Decency’, on Monday.

He described the 16 years of PDP rule at the federal level as a period of steady decline into disaster.

He said, “The longer they rule, the less benefit the people derive. Nigeria now needs a ‘common sense revolution,’ a revolution that calls forth a return to decency, probity, transparency of process and fairness in outcome.

“This is done not by subterfuge, divide and rule and turning Nigeria in a field of discord or a street of broken institutions. It is accomplished by honouring the principles of democratic good governance and economic justice. It is done by persuading the people they are better off as one instead of better off tearing at one another’s throats.

“Nigerians should be prepared for change. We must rescue Nigeria from those set to cause it irreparable harm. The change I talk about is the only route to our deliverance from 16 years of the PDP locusts. Nigeria is ours to keep and its democracy is ours to save.”

He advised that this year’s Independence Day should be a time of sober reflection because other countries that received independence at the same time as Nigeria had since surpassed the country.

He described the Nigeria of today as the nightmare of its founding fathers. Tinubu further berated the PDP-led Federal Government of using religion to divide Nigerians.

He said, “We commemorate this Independence Day because the nation has survived despite its many challenges. We dare not celebrate because the nation has not flourished as it should. Fifty four years our national trek began with hope and promise, peace and unity.

“Today, the nation staggers beneath the weight of trouble multiplied by hardship. Peace and unity seem to have yielded the moment to violence and discord. We exist as a political unit on a map but we do not prosper as brothers and sisters in one nation, under one flag and pursuant to one accord.”

“Never has an elected government in Nigeria employed religion as a tool to divide the people, setting Nigerian brother against brother in a manner that allows this administration to function at the basest level of governance while seeking to establish a political domination that seeks no greater purpose than its self-perpetuation.”

He described attempts to stigmatise and physically intimidate the APC and the militarisation of elections as features of a perverse democracy.

He described President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda as an avenue to siphon funds through a dubious blueprint.

“They do not have a national blueprint or vision. They do have a blueprint and vision for excessive self-enrichment. Their equation is simple: You work, they feast. You toil, they grow fat. You seek a decent wage; they pilfer the collective treasury to enjoy a king’s ransom,” he said.

He said rather than promote religious tolerance and harmonious living, Jonathan’s government believes its electoral chances are enhanced by promoting ethnicism, internal divisions and religious suspicion but “successful nations are not built this way, have we not learned the lesson that we paid the high price of civil war to learn.”

Husain Abdullah penalised after celebrating a touchdown with a Muslim prayer – causing mass outrage among fans
By JACK DE MENEZES

The NFL is once again found itself a talking point for the wrong reasons after a Kansas City Chiefs player was penalised for praying after he scored a touchdown in Monday night’s 41-14 win over the New England Patriots.
Chiefs’ safety Husain Abdullah was delighted to pick off a Tom Brady throw and return the interception for a touchdown. He immediately slides down onto his knees and, being of Muslim faith, prayed in celebration.
It’s not uncommon for players to do such a thing, with many Christian players raising their hands and looking to the sky to celebrate.

However, the referee crew officiating the match threw a penalty flag on the play, and penalised Abdullah 15-yards due to “falling to the ground on the knees”. Needless to say, a giant can of worms had already been opened.
The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty immediately flooded social media sites, with many users on Twitter arguing the case against penalising Abdullah. There is a ruling in the NFL rulebook that says excessive celebration after a play can be penalised, although for the players it is regarded as a grey area with the terminology stating players are “prohibited from engaging in any celebrations while on the ground”.
It does not specifically mention and players who celebrate through prayer, although religious acts are tended to be treated with leniency by the NFL officials.

Arsalan Iftikhar, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com, pointed out that Brandon Marshall of the Chicago Bears had performed a similar celebration and received no penalty on the play, while Tim Tebow’s famous ‘Tebowing’ pose had gone unpunished during his time in the NFL.

Following Monday’s match though, Abdullah accepted the ruling with grace, and revealed that in his eyes he was penalised for sliding into the prayer rather than the prayer itself.

However, the incident has still kicked up a fuss with fans claiming he wouldn’t have been penalised had he been a Christian celebrating a touchdown, and at a time when the NFL needs some seriously positive publicity, this is another unwelcome incident in the 2014 season.

NFL advisor CJ Laboy, who represents Abdullah, later tweeted that the League would have “problems” on their hands should they decide to fine him.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, on Monday said that God had already chosen who would be leader of the country in 2015.

Abubakar was speaking at the inauguration of Holy Mother and Child Clinic, constructed by the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, to enhance health care delivery in the state.

He said that all that was expected of Nigerians was to live in peace with one another, to enable government to fashion out developmental programmes for the well being of Nigerians.

He also called on leaders to always have the fear of God while discharging their constitutional duties, saying that ” we are going to account for our deeds before God”.

He called for responsible politics in 2015 to ensure free, fair and credible elections and emergence of good democratic leaders that would develop the nation forward.

He said that God had blessed the country with human and mineral resources for the benefit of citizens.

He said that since sickness did not recognise religion, the need for all to unite and fight all illnesses was paramount.

“Mosquitoes do not know religion. They go to the mosques on Fridays and Churches on Sundays to bite people, regardless of their religion. We must unite to fight our common enemy,” he said.
Abubakar stressed that Nigerians needed to keep themselves as brothers, to make the country stronger.

“We can be strong in this country if only we keep ourselves as brothers,” he stressed.

Earlier Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta had commended the cordial relationship between the Muslims and Christian community in the state.

He said that was possible through the mutual understanding between the two major religions.

He called on Nigerian leaders to accord equal attention to human capital development infrastructure development.

He said that although leaders were assessed by the number of roads and other infrastructure provide, governments should pay similar attention to human capital development from pregnancy.

He challenged elected leaders to give more attention to pregnant women to ensure smooth delivery of expected young Nigerians.

He observed that most programmes of government were not aimed at considering the poor.

“We hardly consider the poor in our programmes. There is the need to have an improved pro-poor programmes instead of such that only consider the middle and upper class of the people,” he said.

Uduaghan donated a new ambulance to the clinic.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, represented by Minister of State for Health, Haliru Alhassan, said that “maternal and child care were the cornerstone of health systems of all nations.
He promised that the Federal Ministry of Health would collaborate with the Diocese for the success of its programmes.

Gov. Aliyu Wamakko commended Bishop Matthew Kukah for his efforts in bridging the gaps in development

By Levinus Nwabughiogu
He is a man with a plethora of prefixes to his name. Former senator, former federal commissioner, former Midwestern Commissioner, former headmaster among others, but consistent social and political commentator, Chief Edwin Clark, in this gives his role in the remaking of Nigeria, his role in the process among other issues.
The National Conference has come and gone. Many say it was five months of robust discussion. Would you say that the conference was a panacea to Nigeria’s major problems?
I think before we talk about that, the first thing we should go about is to congratulate Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for taking the bold step in convoking that conference which many Heads of State in the past reluctantly refused to convoke for one reason or the other. There were those who were asking for sovereign national conference.

There were others who were asking for national conference. Remember people like Gani Fawehinmi, even Tinubu: these were people who were talking about national conference and for a very long time, nobody cared about it. But when we formed the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly, we went to Mr. President, appealed to him on several occasions, argued with him. He had his own case.
And he said, yes, there are problems in Nigeria that cannot be solved by amendments to the constitution alone and finally he agreed to convoke a national conference. He did not just only announce it, he set up a committee under Senator Femi Okurounmu who used to shout in the Senate as if that was the only purpose for which he was elected into the Senate. So, the committee went round the country, saw the modalities and everything and how it should be organised.
Then, the doubting Thomases thought it was a very wrong time and that Mr. President wanted to get some benefits from it. All sorts of things were said. Those of them who could not do it now regarded it as a bad thing.
But there were people who were ready at all times to see whether they can scuttle the conference because they never wanted it. There are people who believe that the status quo in this country should remain. The nation should not move forward as long as it benefits them against millions of Nigerians who are suffering and deprived.
For example, the Nigeria that was amalgamated for one hundred years by Lord Lugard had come to an end. Nigerians have been craving for a new place, a forum where they could all meet to debate and discuss the basis for our living together for the next 100 years. So, what the President did was very, very appropriate and timely at the time.
I think at the end of it, we passed about 600 resolutions and decisions which were very, very relevant to developing a new country and I remember one of my colleagues, Professor Jibril Aminu, one of the most intelligent persons in this country came and sat by me and said that we should take a photograph. We took the photograph and at the end, he said a new Nigeria has been born. And I emphasized the same that you are right; a new Nigeria has been born. Why? Because we touched every aspect of living in Nigeria. What aspect did we not touch?
You said that the Nigeria, Lord Lugard amalgamated in 1914 has come to an end. What do you mean by that?
In 1914, Lord Lugard signed an agreement which amalgamated Southern and Northern Nigeria together. I didn’t say it ended as such but at the end of 100 years, there was a need to renew it because when it was made, nobody was consulted. So, it was appropriate that we have lived together for 100 years and therefore there was need to renew our living together for another 100 years.
Now, do you think that the resolutions reached and taken at the conference have brought peace between the north and the south?
I think so. One of the problems we had first was that most of the northerners never wanted the conference. They believe in the status quo. Even when they came in, they wanted to scuttle it. So, we disagreed first of all whether decisions were to be taken by 75% or by two-third majority.
These went on for over ten days. People thought that the conference was going to end abruptly which made Lamido of Adamawa to say that if this country breaks up, some of us have no place to go to, but they will go to Adamawa State in the Cameroons. That’s what he said. He again said that those of you who are close to Mr. President have come here to oppose Mr. President’s decision; that his decision is to go on 75 percent.
We said no. Mr. President is a liberal man. He has set up a body. How we arrive at our decisions is no business of his. So, we knew that some of us were being attacked indirectly by him. But could you believe that at the end of the conference, we embraced ourselves and we said no more going to Cameroon and we took photographs together.
That shows the level of understanding. But unfortunately, some of the most educated northerners, like the Yadudus were ready to scuttle the conference at all cost for reasons best known to them to the extent that some of us had to “attack” him personally; that he was not only the professor around. So, even towards the end of the conference, some of them were still ready to scuttle the conference.
But I believe having spent about 5 months together, we all have realized that the conference was a useful one. With my interviews with a lot of them both men and women from the north, I think we have gained from the conference and the decisions of the conference will go a long way to improve the lots of everybody in Nigeria.
How did you take the unanimous decision of the National Executive Committee, NEC of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to endorse President Jonathan as the sole candidate for the next presidential election?
Oh! Fantastic. In fact, you must have seen our congratulatory message, message of thanks to members of BoT, members of the National Working Committee, NWC, members of NEC, the Governors Forum for thinking it wise enough that a sitting president should be allowed to contest again undisturbed which is the practice in America and all over the world. We did it with Shagari. It is not a novelty. In 1979, Shagari contested. In 1983, there were many men of timber and caliber from all over the country but nobody contested it with him. So, I think this is the right step. So, I congratulate the members of the various organs of the party.
You were recently quoted as saying that you made Dr. Jonathan Vice President in 2007. But one wonders if that is true given counter claims in some other quarters.
Well, I am not very happy going back into all these types of history but for record purposes and those who have to read history again, it may be necessary to say something about it. It will be recalled that on November 4, 2004, the leaders of South-South went to Calabar for a declaration that South-South should produce the next president in 2007. Most of the governors today attended the meeting and we came out and called it Calabar Declaration. So, those who were interested we called them to participate.
It will be recalled that Dr. Peter Odili, governor or Rivers state, Arc. Victor Attah, governor of Akwa Ibom state, Dr. Donald Duke, governor of Cross Rivers state, then we had Admiral Akigbe, now late, and others who were very superior people said they were contesting. So, it was not a matter of fancy but a matter of fact that our people wanted to be president of Nigeria. Later, Dr. Saraki wrote me a letter that he too had an organization known as Northern Union.
They too wanted a northerner to contest and we met for the first time in Warri at Wellington Hotel. His members and our members met. We told him that we wanted presidency. He said he wanted it also. We later held series of meetings in Kaduna, Abuja and other places to decide that. We hadn’t come to a conclusion when Obasanjo decided to impose Umaru Yar’Adua as the candidate. Then, Odili had to withdraw. We didn’t know that Nuhu Ribadu, the then EFCC chairman was specifically asked by Obasanjo to probe Odili. He submitted an interim report which said that Odili embezzled N100b of Rivers State money.
Nobody has proved that anyway. But this was between Obasanjo and Ribadu. Then Attah had his own problem with Mr. President and Donald Duke also had his problem through his wife. So, he used it to blackmail them and the three of them withdrew. But late Admiral Akigbe refused to withdraw. Let me say this, when people talk about zoning, it upsets me. That’s why I have decided to tell you the story.
There was no time at that time the northerners talked about zoning. In fact, they deceived us. Odili went on, spent money and time. Alhaji Shehu Shagari and many others bought his views. After a meeting in Uromi, we sent Ambassador Lawrence Ekpegbu and his team to the Northeast. They were received by the Shehu of Borno and so forth. There was no time the northerners said there was zoning and that, therefore it was their turn. No.
And it was now through the zoning that Obasanjo brought in Yar’Adua. He had his own reasons. One of the reasons was that he was a prudent fellow. He had N6bn in his purse. Another one was that he was a very intelligent fellow. He was a lecturer and was very humble. Those were the reasons he gave and we bought into it. Then, along the line, it was stated that Odili should be running mate to Yar’Adua.
This was agreed upon but we later learnt that some elements in PDP, I can name some of them; el-Rufai, Ribadu and many others met and changed the acceptance speech of Yar’Adua without his knowledge, without Odili knowing. In the acceptance speech, it had been written that Sir, Peter Odili will be my running mate. But they changed it to “I will name my running mate after I have consulted with the elders of the party.” So, the two men went to the podium and when Yar’Adua read his speech, there was nothing like Odili. Odili was very upset. So, they came out.
In the morning on Sunday, I was watching the television. I saw what happened. By 10 O’clock, I had some visitors including Mr. Ayokobe Whisky who is now Dr. Ayokobe Whisky. He used to be Commissioner for Housing in Bayelsa State.
They were with me in the room with one other person, I can’t remember. Then I had an emissary from the Sultan of Sokoto. They were introduced to me, that they came from Yar’Adua, the Governor of Katsina. And the emissary gave me a piece of paper which had about 20 names listed on it including Ibori, Donald Duke and others, saying I should pick a good running mate for him from the list. I looked through the list, there was nobody I thought there could work with Yar’Adua. I said well, let me suggest somebody who would do the job, who had the qualities which Obasanjo told me about Yar’Adua. And I said that Jonathan was a lecturer also.
He had Ph.D, academician, humble, transparent and loyal. I said both of them should be able to work together. So, I wrote Jonathan’s name on the list and they left. Then I didn’t know whether Jonathan would accept. One of them suggested that we call him and I said phone him. Within 20 minutes, Jonathan arrived at my Transcorp Hilton suite and I told him. He was reluctant. He said he doesn’t want to. He said I want to be the governor of Bayelsa State in the next four years.
I do not want to be deputy to anybody. Then I said that the people of South-South went to Calabar at a certain time and said they wanted a president and if we have not got that presidency because of what has been imposed on us, let us have an elected Vice President. He kept quiet for sometime and then said, well, if that’s your choice, so be it but I am not in favour of it. I said it is our choice. He left. Later the name was announced.
And I know very well that Jonathan at that time was a child loved by a father, that is Obasanjo. Jonathan had received a chieftaincy title from Owu, Obasanjo’s home town and Jonathan had taken over from Alamaesigha. So, Jonathan was a pet son of Obasanjo and I knew that if I recommend him, Obasanjo will not disagree. So, Obasanjo as the president of Nigeria must have contributed a long way to making Jonathan running mate to Yar’Adua. In fact, he told me a story when I led some south southerners to his house in Aso Rock that same evening to thank him for taking Jonathan.
He said that was a good choice, that when he sent for Jonathan, he was not ready for it. Then he told him, that I will give you one of the hats you people gave me when I visited Yeneagoa and they all laughed because they had to take photograph together. That shows the role played by Obasanjo in making Jonathan Vice President. Clark could recommend but Obasanjo can reject. But in this particular case we agreed and so that’s how it happened. So, when people talk about what happened here and there, I laugh. Jonathan was not ambitious. He never wanted to be vice to Umaru Yar’Adua.
Many people posit that Jonathan’s presidency has further divided the country. Do you share this view?
Those people with that view are living in a different world. They are not Nigerians. The people who have that view, they are not only mischievous and wicked, but they are living in a different world. How can anybody say that Jonathan’s presidency has divided the country the more? It has rather united this country. We have just discussed. Jonathan was able to assemble 492 Nigerians from different persuasions for five months to debate and discuss the way forward in Nigeria.

And at the end of it all, we succeeded. We have also submitted the report to him waiting for him to take action and I also saw that he has set up a panel to look through the report before appointing a body for the implementation. So, it is not true that Jonathan has come to divide Nigeria rather Jonathan’s presidency has united this country by everybody coming together to discuss problems facing Nigeria and he has been able to pilot it through.
So, I do not know why people are talking about division. If there was going to be any division, it would have come through the National Conference. Even the National Conference at a certain time, people thought it would break but it never broke. We remained till the end and we all agreed that we have succeeded. In my speech I said we came and we have conquered. And not only that, we had a good dinner together a night before the final day. So, it is not true that Jonathan has divided the country.
Most people like you think that the endorsement of Mr. President is an automatic victory. Now, should he contest in 2015 and fail, what will happen?
Nothing will happen. Nothing will happen. I have said so several times. Jonathan is like any other Nigerian politician who wants to contest election or who is contesting election. When you contest election, two results will come up. You either succeed or you fail. Jonathan will not be different.
If he fails, he will pack his things and go home. We will not cause trouble as some people did in 2011 when they caused riot and so on. Jonathan will go home without making any problem. Don’t mind what some people may say, O! There will be trouble.
There is not going to be any trouble. Jonathan’s election will be like any other person’s election. Those who failed in 2011 are still in this country even though they caused riot. Ribadu contested as a presidential candidate, but he has gone to PDP today. He has been hobnobbing with Mr. President. So, I do not think that the president will take it as something of life and death.
He has said that no one should die for him. And in his time as president, his party has lost a number of elections. His party lost in Ondo State, lost in Edo, Osun and Anambra. He was the first to congratulate them. Why would it be that if he fails, he would kill himself or cause trouble in the country? No way. Whoever wins, Jonathan will congratulate him and go back home.
But most people see you as a tribal chauvinist?
They are very stupid. They don’t know what they are talking about. I can never be a tribal chauvinist. I am a Nigerian. I am a senior citizen of this country. A statesman in this country. Everybody belongs to a tribe. If by some of my actions of defending Jonathan, I have done so, it is because I thought he is being oppressed by some people. I defended Yar’Adua when the same Obasanjo was breezing on his neck.
He complained to me and I went to the press, bought pages and fought Obasanjo; that he should remain in his Ota Farm. When Atiku took him to court up to the Supreme Court, I wrote a lengthy letter to Atiku telling him not to worry Yar’Adua; that if it were possible for the dead to come back to life, his brother Shehu would be very unhappy that Atiku whom he brought up is now the one harassing his younger brother.
I reminded Atiku in that letter of his relationship with the Yar’Adua family. That was why he went to Katsina to visit their mother. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone. So, he should not worry the man. And Yar’Adua replied me because I copied him and I still have the reply Yar’Adua sent to me till today. So, I am not doing it because Jonathan is an Ijaw man. I will do it for any other president. Jonathan is my president. I voted for him like any other president, so I have a stake. Many people would not like to talk. I will talk.